Loving Like a Potter
by prinadean
Summary: Maxim Potter was a rational, intelligent,succesful young man. The last thing he needed was to fall in love with his little sister's best friend. He should have known being Harry Potter's son wouldn't make his love life any easier.
1. Chapter 1

Maxim Potter was usually a mild-mannered young man

Hello, this is my new story. It's written differently and is much more light-hearted than my other two stories. I hope new readers and loyal readers of my stories alike enjoy this chapter. Please review and let me know whether it is good or bad. I am working on the update for The Quidditch Chronicles as well. Again thank you for reading. -Prinadean

**Loving Like a Potter I**

Maxim Potter was usually a mild-mannered young man.

"_I really think I should tell the story" interrupted a female voice that although usually pleasant was currently marked with a decidedly argumentative tone. The voice was none other than the voice of the narrator's wife._

"_You, but you don't know how it began" said the original male storyteller in a tone a fraction more accusatory than necessary._

"_Oh don't I, because I'm pretty sure the protagonist role is a shared one when it comes to love stories" the irritation in the voice was becoming more obvious with every word._

"_Yes, but you never get the man's point of view in a love story. It's always about the woman's…feelings" the last word lingered with a shade of mild disgust._

"_There happen to be nothing wrong with feelings. Besides, it will sound much better when I tell it. After all, I'm the writer" this time the voice was tinged with indignation,_

"_This is exactly why you should let me join in on the storytelling every now and then. Let's learn to share, darling" said the male voice veering now towards a tone of placating._

"_Knowing you, you'll just keep going about the story and never let me get a word in edgewise, honey" Honey might as well have been a curse word._

"_Me, yeah right, you always have to get the last word. Not to mention the first word and every word in the middle as well," The narrator said._

_Since truth be told this was a point the female could not exactly dispute as she was notoriously verbose, the female conceded, "Fine you can start"_

"_Anyway, where was I, oh yeah…"_

Maxim Potter was usually a mild-mannered young man. In fact, of all the Potter children he was the least temperamental and the least likely to fall into dramatic antics. His mother had always said that he was the easiest baby, calm and well behaved, never fussy. Very few things annoyed Maxim James Potter. Not the incessant fighting of his youngest siblings Tierney age seven and Dane age nine. Not the paparazzi that seemed to follow him whenever he enjoyed a night out on the town. Not the whining of his sister Charlotte's cat at two in the morning. No, Maxim was the easygoing, relaxed type. Except for when it came to her.

The aforementioned "her" currently was twirling around the dance floor in a blue chiffon dress that accentuated every movement of her willowy frame. Not that Maxim noticed.

What he would admit to noticing is the way in which the man she was dancing with was surreptitiously sliding his hand farther down her bare back with every dance step. That was most certainly behavior of which "her" brother Sebastian would most certainly not approve of. And "her" brother had entrusted Maxim to keep an eye on his younger sister, his only sister no less. It wasn't really a problem as it meant he also was able to keep an eye on "her" best friend and his sister as well.

The "her" happened to be Delilah Daisy Longbottom. And, it would be a lot easier for Maxim to keep an eye on the pretty blonde if she didn't seem to be attracting the attentions of nearly every single, and some not so single, men present at Georgina Biltmore's annual Summer Solstice Ball. She was only barely seventeen after all, it was positively indecent for some of these men to be gawking at her the way that they were.

Then again, Delilah did seem to look particularly beautiful tonight with her long blonde hair shimmering in the light of the ballroom of the Grosvenor Square mansion owned by the Biltmore family. The ends of her flaxen locks tickled her bare back and were practically forcing Maxim's gaze down to her perfect…But now was not the time to be thinking of bare skin and tickling.

Now was the time to step in before some society prat groped Delilah on the dance floor. Maxim finally caught a glimpse of the man she was dancing with. It was Christopher Hardwick of all people. Not that Christopher wasn't a fairly decent human being; but he was as dumb as a doorknob and currently struggling through law school before his father gave him a pity position at his prestigious law firm.

Maxim swiftly made his way to the middle of the dance floor, as the song ended standing no more than a foot from Delilah and Christopher.

"May I have the next dance?" Max asked, though it wasn't much of a question as Max had deftly stepped in front of Christopher and slipped an arm around Delilah's tiny waist. The maneuver carried out with surprising grace elicited an irritated noise from behind Maxim, though he only turned to see a miffed Cameron Smythson who had apparently wanted the next dance. Max simply turned around to place a more firm hold on Delilah's waist.

Delilah placed one arm on Maxim's shoulder and her other hand in his free hand as they began to dance.

"So, Christopher Hardwick?" questioned Maxim.

Delilah grimaced but restrained an eye roll, "Insufferable bore"

"Glad to hear it", Max said with a slight smirk.

"Oh really, do you consider yourself so much better? Besides I believe he wanted to escort me on a private walk in the gardens" Delilah teased.

"Please, don't insult me. Besides knowing Christopher he'd lead you all the way to Edinburgh before you encountered a single of the Biltmore's rosebushes", Maxim said trying to downplay the remark, but everyone knew what happened in the gardens during balls.

Delilah laughed softly and looked up at Max, her clear grey-blue eyes making contact with his brilliant green eyes. The eyes he inherited from his father.

Maxim examined every feature of her beautiful face. She had perfect doll-like features: a heart-shaped face, small pert nose, high rounded cheekbones, and big, round eyes. Her face was so innocent and pure that Maxim had to fight the thoughts of corrupting her until she was the devil himself.

But then there was that mouth. She possessed full, perfect lips with a prominent cupid's bow for a mouth that was so sensuous that he suspected the men were lining up to dance with her with the sole purpose of receiving a smile from those curvaceous lips.

It was infuriating that little Delilah Longbottom was making him feel this way, making him think…impure thoughts. It was so infuriating, that he twirled Delilah a little harder than was necessary and she looked at him with an arched eyebrow. He mumbled a sorry. She rolled her eyes, but didn't make the sarcastic comment that was surely on the tip of her tongue.

"Thanks for the rescue" Delilah said as the dance ended and she made her way towards her best friend and Maxim's sister Charlotte who had just extracted herself from the clutches of some other society kid.

Maxim sighed and walked off to meet up with his best friend Noah Pearlsteen by the bar. What he really needed was to stop thinking about Delilah Longbottom and the only way to do that it seems was to start drinking.

Except his eyes couldn't help but fall to Delilah laughing and gossiping with Charlotte across the room. Her smile was bright and her laugh light and bell-like. Well, Maxim couldn't actually hear her laugh over the jovial chatter and music that filled the expansive ballroom, but he knew what it sounded like all the same.

Yes, Max definitely needed a drink.

"Scotch please" he ordered quickly from the bartender.

"Did you see Royston Vaughn?" Noah asked gesturing to the ballroom entrance.

There stood a handsome, distinguished gentleman in a well-cut black tuxedo. He had a presence that demanded attention with perfectly coiffed brown hair, a tanned face that bared lines of a life well indulged, and gray eyes that tended to mesmerize the least flirtatious of women.

"What is he doing here? He hasn't been in England for ten years at least" Maxim said taking a little more than a sip of his scotch.

"Thirteen actually" said Aithley Weasley, a pretty redhead who happened to be Noah's wife and Maxim's cousin as she approached Noah and Maxim.

"Counting down the days till his return" Maxim teased.

"Please, I simply make it my business to know these things," said Aithley, but nevertheless draping her arms around Noah's neck. He pulled her closer and kissed her softly on the lips. Maxim looked away at the intimacy of their little gesture, but was still distracted by the thought of what it would be like to be able to kiss Delilah like that.

"Oh speaking of which, I have an excellent bit of gossip. You know Sienna Smythson, that blond girl that was the same year as Caliber in school only she went to Beauxbatons because she lived in Paris with her mum. Well, guess what the little slut is up to now?", said Aithley.

"Darling, we don't care, but it doesn't matter since I'm sure you're going to tell us anyway" Noah said.

Aithley ignored him, "Apparently she's pregnant, which, you know, was bound to happen sooner or later, so that's not really news. But the potential father list is outrageous: Gaspard Garrel, a married Beauxbatons professor; Michael Tyler, the unfortunate-looking Interior Minister's son with bad skin; and her chauffer, who is actually quite attractive. Oh, but don't tell anyone, she doesn't want anyone to know she's knocked up until she gets a paternity test"

"Well how do you know all this then?" Maxim asked suspiciously.

"Poor girl had a meltdown in the powder room, and she spilled the whole story" said Aithley, looking only slightly sympathetic.

"You're a terrible gossip," Noah said, though the way he was stroking her voluminous red wavy hair indicated it didn't bother him in the slightest.

"I swear I don't search out gossip, gossip finds me"

"Alright then, since it seems you really do know everything about everyone, why is Royston Vaughn back in England"?

"Well as you know he was living quite well in Vienna; plenty of money, women, glamorous holidays. But apparently, he recently had a falling out with his business partner"

"I didn't hear anything about it," said Noah who happened to work for his family's hotelier Pearlsteen International, a rival of the Guggenheim-Vaughn Group.

"Well you wouldn't because it wasn't exactly business related. Apparently Josef Guggenheim caught Vaughn in a little dalliance with his wife. Anyway, you'll be interested to know Vaughn's about to sell his portion of the company and open up his own firm here in London"

"Darling, you are pure genius", said Noah foreseeing a multi-million-galleon acquisition in his very near future, now that he knew of Vaughn's business troubles.

"Don't ever forget it" Aithley responded with a sardonic smile.

"Noah, it looks like you're going to be fighting for his attention for awhile, what with the way those girls are throwing themselves at him" Maxim said raising his glass towards where Royston Vaughn was flirting with no less than four or five women.

"Clearly they know about the six houses, two yachts, and his status as the richest man in Europe under 40" said Charlotte Potter joining the conversation, champagne glass in hand. Delilah Longbottom happened to be with her.

"Yes, but why do you know that?" Maxim asked accusingly removing her champagne glass and replacing it with lemonade from a passing waiter.

Charlotte waved the comment off before promptly grabbing another champagne glass from a different waiter.

"How old is he anyway?" asked Noah.

"Thirty-four", Charlotte, Delilah and Aithley responded in unison.

"You're ridiculous, all of you" Maxim said with an incredulous laugh.

"He is handsome," remarked Charlotte.

"Yes, and much too old for you. Isn't there any other guy you might be interested in, not that I'm encouraging it, but at least someone more appropriate than Royston Vaughn"

"That's why we came over here. Aidan Finnegan was following Charlotte around the ballroom like a lovesick puppy" Delilah said with a giggle.

"He wrote me a sonnet, not just a poem but a sonnet; it was a terrible one actually. He rhymed 'Charlotte' with 'I'll never treat you like a harlot'" said Charlotte exasperated by the boy who continued to send her flowers now that the school year was over, though perhaps it was better than the constant love notes in class.

"I see, do you think you two could stop the boys from falling in love with you for one night? Besides Charlotte, you have two other brothers why can't they keep a track of you and Dee for one night. How am I supposed to enjoy myself when I'm fighting off your constant suitors"

Charlotte laughed while Delilah said, "You're right, I apologize on behalf of Charlotte and I for being so gorgeous and desirable. Next time there's a ball we'll dress in Hogwarts robes, which do absolutely nothing for our figures and we'll be sure not to bathe that week either"

"Thank you, that's all I'm asking for. Next time Cal and Jude are going to do this though" Maxim replied.

"Please Cal's too busy with other women to pay attention to us and Jude hates parties and kind of people in general, so good luck with that one. Besides I think you secretly enjoy your role"

"Yes and you do fetch lemonade and champagne with a certain panache" added Delilah.

"Um, Charlotte" said a shaky voice from behind, "wo- would you like to dance?"

It was Sheldon McCleary a Hufflepuff in Charlotte and Delilah's year at Hogwarts, and another of Charlotte's many admirers. Charlotte gave him a gracious smile before following him out to the dance floor her black silk gown trailing behind her. Still, she looked back at Maxim, Delilah, Aithley and Noah with a desperate look.

"Come on Aithley, let's dance before some guy tries to whisk you away from me too" said Noah, placing an arm around her narrow waist and steering her towards the dance floor. She kissed him subtly and sweetly on the cheek as they headed to the dance floor.

"One day I'll be in love like them" said Delilah with a smile.

"Noah and Aithley? Yeah, they're pretty perfect together. I introduced them, you know" Maxim said with a wistful smile.

"Yes, I do actually. Don't you remember I was there?" Delilah teased

"That's right at the villa in Ibiza two summers ago. You're coming with us again this summer, right?"

"Yes, Sebastian has been in Spain for the past two months doing herbology research there so my mum and dad figured it was the best place for us to all join up for summer vacation" Delilah said. Her father Neville Longbottom owned Longbottom Botanicals, a world famous greenhouse and lab in the hills above Hogsmeade, where academic types and tourists alike came from allover to see the exotic and powerful plants. Sebastian, Delilah's nineteen year-old brother had inherited the plant passion and was currently doing field research for his father's lab.

"That's great!" Maxim said with a little too much enthusiasm, his voice an octave too high.

He cleared his throat and began again, "I mean, I'm glad you're joining us, because Ibiza is always really fun; you know there's a lot to do"

"Yeah, I'm really exci-"

"I'm sorry to interrupt, Miss?" said the dashing Royston Vaughn interrupting the conversation. Maxim didn't think he looked the least bit sorry.

"Delilah, Delilah Longbottom", Delilah said smoothly.

"Delilah" Royston repeated, his voice like honey as his narcotic grey eyes gazed at her lustily. Delilah blushed under his gaze.

"Yes, and I'm Maxim Potter" Maxim interrupted suddenly extending a hand towards Royston and forcing his attention away from Delilah.

"Very nice to meet you" Royston said shaking his hand all manners and easy confidence.

Maxim noticed that his eyes barely flickered towards him and away from Delilah though. He did not at all appreciate the way Royston looked at Delilah like a ripe piece of fruit he very much wanted to eat. Couldn't he be a little subtler about his intentions?

Maxim had been so caught in his own thoughts that he didn't notice Royston escorting Delilah to the dance floor until it was too late. He wondered if he should go over and break them up somehow. But, Delilah didn't seem too miserable in Royston's arms and was laughing because apparently Royston was a very witty guy, much to Maxim's chagrin. Maxim didn't really think he could really do witty.

This was ridiculous, Maxim Potter was twenty-years old, he was a single, successful businessman who had three months out of business school opened the hottest new nightclub in London called Glitterati and was working on opening a brand new restaurant in the exclusive Mayfair neighborhood. Not to mention he was a scion of one the wealthiest, most well respected families in the wizarding world. He did not need to be distracted by and interested in his little sister's best friend, especially when she still had a year of school left and whom he had known her entire life. No, he was Maxim Potter and he could have any one of the beautiful young women flirting their way around the ballroom if he wanted to have them.

Maxim scoped the room out quickly searching for a distraction, but not a one of the exquisitely dressed society girls tempted him much. And so Max turned back to the bar, and ordered himself another scotch.

"_Why are we writing this again?" Said the male narrator otherwise known as Maxim Potter_

"_It's our story, our very own love story," explained the female, his fiancé Delilah Longbottom. They were to be married in two days._

"_Yes, I know what it is, but we know the story so why do we need to write it" Maxim protested. _

_Delilah sighed heavily and then began, "Because when we get our first letter from Hogwarts saying our oldest kid threw a party in the trophy room and broke all the glass casing and our middle one has the flu and is throwing up all over the place and our youngest has just gotten into the naked stage and refuses to wear clothes and runs around the house completely nude and we haven't had more than ten minutes alone in six months and I'm wondering why I ever moved out of my awesome Notting Hill bachelorette pad and your new secretary is only twenty with no puke stains on her blouse and she's tempting you, we can say 'Oh- so that's why we got married'"_

"_Merlin…Sorry I asked"_


	2. Chapter 2

Delilah smiled as she gazed up at the bleached white villa with its Spanish tiled red roof

Hi everyone! Thank you to all the amazing support for this story. Just to answer one of the reviews, I figured since it was obvious that Maxim and Delilah were going to end up together because it's mentioned in my other stories I figured this would be a more creative way to tell the story. Thank you all so much for reading and reviewing. I'm a bit stuck on the next chapter for the Quidditch Chronicles but I'll try to get that up this weekend. Please read and review

**Loving Like a Potter II**

Delilah smiled as she gazed up at the bleached white villa with its Spanish tiled red roof. The sun was shining hot and bright on Delilah, her parents and her younger brother Wynter even though it was only eight in the morning. Though growing up in England where a summer's day was just too rare a find, made Delilah appreciate the sun no matter how hot and bright.

The six bedroom, eight bathroom villa complete with a private pool, car park and guest cottage was an absolute dream of a summer home on the Balearic island of Ibiza. The villa comfortably slept twelve plus room for a few more on assorted couches. But since the Potters were eight by themselves plus Delilah and Jude's friend John, Neville and Luna Longbottom were staying in the guest cottage with fourteen-year old Wynter. Delilah felt bad about leaving her brother with her parents considering what was going on with them at the moment.

Still her older brother Sebastian who lived full time in Cordoba wasn't going to be arriving in Ibiza until the following day and his condo directly on the beach was terribly small anyway.

Charlotte, who had been anxiously waiting in the living room for her best friend and her family to arrive, threw open the door as they walked up the terra cotta path to the front door of the villa.

"Hi!" Charlotte exclaimed hugging Delilah like she hadn't seen her in years, when it had only been three days since the Potters had arrived at the villa. Delilah hugged Charlotte back tightly.

Maxim walked in then, fresh from the pool in a pair of black swim trunks, rubbing his hair with a colorful beach towel. Delilah couldn't keep her eyes from roaming his bare chest and torso and back up to his face. He smiled when she met his eyes and Delilah blushed hotly at being caught checking him out. He just looked so adorable with his messy black hair even more disheveled from his towel.

"Mum, Dad, the Longbottoms are here!" he yelled in the general direction of the stairs. And soon the Potter clan was getting everyone settled and Charlotte had led Delilah upstairs to her bedroom that they would share for the next two weeks. The bedroom was painted white, just like every other room in the house and Charlotte had decorated the walls with a few paintings and photos as well as bouquets of flowers in glass vases on the dressers and nightstands.

Delilah unpacked and then she and Charlotte changed into bikinis and threw on sundresses over them so that they could head down to the beach.

"It feels so good to be in the sun. It rained at home all week" said Delilah stretching herself out on her beach towel.

"Hey remember Sheldon McCleary from last week at the Biltmores ball?"

"Yeah"

"Well I completely forgot to tell you but he asked me out for dinner for the following night. So we went out and the poor guy was so nervous his hands were shaking while we were eating. I really wanted to be nice to him but I didn't want to give him the wrong idea or anything either. We were sitting in a booth too, and when he tried to put his arm around my shoulders he did it really slowly I guess so he could prove how smooth he was or something so just as he was about to bring his arm behind my head, I leaned all the way back against the booth and squashed his arm with my head"

"Charlotte!" Delilah exclaimed though she was laughing as well.

"What was I supposed to do?"

"That is too funny. Poor guy was probably so embarrassed"

"Well he didn't try it again. And anyway poor him? How about poor me, I really think I may have bruised my head" said Charlotte rubbing the back of her head with her fingers.

Delilah laughed at Charlotte good-naturedly, and pulled from her beach bag a copy of the muggle magazine Cosmopolitan. The girls both had a secret passion for the magazine and despite the fact that the pictures didn't move, the magazine didn't really need the animation to prove the point of many of their articles.

"Is that the new issue?" Charlotte asked.

"Yes, complete with 'The 10 Moves Your Man Wishes You'd Try' " said Delilah pointing to the headline on the cover.

"When we lose our virginity, we are certainly going to impress" said Charlotte with a giggle.

The two girls had been voraciously reading the magazine cover to cover every month since their third year at Hogwarts. Over the years they had picked up a few tips and tricks that neither of them had used, but felt more sophisticated for knowing.

They were reading the articles aloud and gasping in both shock and amusement at the audacity not to mention the creativity of some of the sexual encounters.

Charlotte started reading next "Listen to this one from Cameron 22: I love it when she slowly licks-

"Hey Max!" Delilah said a little too loudly and quickly as she saw Maxim approaching her and Charlotte with Noah and Aithley.

"Aithley, Noah, I didn't know you guys were here!" said Charlotte rising from her blanket and hugging her cousin and her cousin's husband as if they hadn't just been reading scandalous magazine articles. Though it didn't escape Delilah's attention that Charlotte had placed the magazine faced down so that only a Chanel ad was on display.

"Hey, we're going to go sailing. Do you want to come?" asked Maxim.

"Sure, sounds like fun" said Charlotte and everyone followed her brother to the yacht club where their boat was waiting in the adjoining harbor.

Once everyone was onboard Maxim skillfully maneuvered the boat out to sea. Delilah couldn't help but admire the way his hands worked the various components of the boat. With those hands, Max could control the wind, the direction of the boat, the speed. Yes, they were obviously more than capable hands.

Delilah went up towards the front of the boat to watch Maxim. Maxim had his back to her, but she could tell he knew she was there. They always had this sort of sixth sense for each other, though Delilah dismissed it as nothing more than the fact that he had spent a year watching over her in the crowded ballrooms of London society.

"Enjoying yourself so far?" asked Maxim sitting beside her on the edge of the boat

"I don't know. The weather's terrible, all this sunshine and warmth", Delilah said with a sardonic smile.

"Not to mention the sea, how dare it be so blue?" Maxim said in the same mocking tones.

"Mm, and this boat, the ride is so smooth and unthreatening, what kind of sailor are you?"

Maxim smiled slowly at her, the kind of smile that always got a girl's heart racing. In fact, Delilah felt her pulse quicken annoyingly enough. She wasn't sure why exactly Maxim was having an effect on her. She had been on the receiving end of many slow, seductive smiles, and thought herself immune to their effects. Perhaps it wasn't the smile then, perhaps it was whose smile? No that was a dangerous train of thought as Maxim was Charlotte's older brother and frequent chaperone. He certainly would never think of her as anything more than his little sister's best friend. And she didn't want anymore than that anyway. He was attractive and so she was attracted- nothing more.

"These seas are a bit too easy for my tastes. This is more of a pleasure sail, not really a challenge" Max said confidently. He grabbed a couple of bottled waters from a small bar and handed one to Delilah, before joining her again.

"Well I'd love to see you in action" Delilah said with a flirtatious smile.

"Oh really?" Max said taking a drink of water.

"Yeah, I guess you could say I have a weakness for seamen" Delilah said nonchalantly.

Maxim choked on the water he was drinking, his eyes wide at her insinuating statement.

If the other night in the Biltmores's ballroom hadn't proved she was no longer a little girl; that certainly did.

Delilah laughed at his reaction before pounding him on the back.

"Maxim, I'm hungry" Charlotte called from the other end of the boat.

Maxim who had regained his composure by this point said, "Thank you for sharing that with me".

"Let's go back and you can buy Dee and me lunch"

"Buy it yourself"

"I can't, we left our wallets at the villa"

"Oh alright, I'm starved anyway"

"Thanks, I love you"

"I'm family, you're supposed to love me" Maxim said rolling his eyes.

"Yes, but I'm a rebel" Charlotte replied with a sardonic shrug of her shoulders.

Maxim rolled his eyes again and Delilah and Charlotte just laughed. He immediately set back to work directing the boat back to the harbor.

When they all arrived back at the harbor, they opted out of eating at the yacht club with its notoriously uptight crowd and headed down to a tapas bar where more of the locals hung out.

They ordered and started on their first glasses of wine before Aithley immediately began spreading the latest gossip. She truly was the most reliable news source in town, not to mention she could wring information from a pumpkin.

"So I picked up a little more information about Royston Vaughn" Aithley said mostly to Charlotte and Delilah.

"Tell! He's made the season so much more interesting" Charlotte said immediately.

"Well, he's throwing a black and white ball at his townhouse at the end of the month. Very exclusive invite list, so of course everyone is going to pretend they were there. But more than that, I heard he had originally planned the ball for next weekend except he moved the date to insure a certain blonde would be in town" Aithley said looking pointedly at Delilah.

For the second time that day Maxim choked on his drink.

"What?!" he finally managed to sputter out.

Delilah was blushing and Charlotte was smiling at her best friend, her eyes filled with scandal and amusement.

"He can't really be interested in you, can he?" Maxim asked, not wanting to believe the truth.

Delilah looked away from Maxim blushing even redder and not sure whether to be hurt at his disdain.

"Is that so hard to believe?" Charlotte asked rising to her friend's defense as she could tell Delilah was embarrassed by Maxim's comment, "Dee's beautiful and young and fun and smart and-"

"I didn't, I didn't mean it like it that" Maxim said, only just realizing his mistake, "No, I just meant, it's hardly appropriate. He's twice your age, Delilah. I mean obviously men are going to be attracted to you, but couldn't it be someone else. Not to mention Sebastian asked me to look out for you, and I promised him I would"

Delilah rolled her eyes, "If Sebastian was so concerned about my well-being, he'd look out for me himself. Not to mention I hardly need to be looked after; so really, don't feel the need to waste your time in anymore stuffy ballrooms on my account"

"I think you lost this one mate", Noah said clapping his hand on Maxim's shoulder.

Delilah rolled over and tried to get comfortable for the millionth time that night. She wanted to go to sleep so badly. She could feel the exhaustion behind her eyes, but she just couldn't get comfortable. She had kicked off her blankets because she was too hot, but later thought maybe the warmth might make her sleepy. She had closed the window, because the windy night was howling with hot air. Except then she felt like she was choking on the room's stuffiness. She had counted sheep, and fish and zebras and livestock until her mind drifted off to the horrendous images of a striped pig with wool on the ears and metallic gills on its face. And of course because she was trying so hard to sleep, she was only growing more irritable and antsy by the second.

She looked over at Charlotte in the next bed, who was sleeping soundly. That was nothing new, Charlotte could sleep through anything, anywhere. The sight only frustrated Delilah more however, and so resigning to her awakened state she wrenched the white sheets off her body and in only her thin nightshirt, a white undershirt that had once belonged to Sebastian, she tiptoed as quietly as she could, down the hallway to the stairs and then down to the living room before slipping out the French doors that led to the backyard.

Delilah sat on the edge of the pool and let her bare feet dangle in the water. She knew she must have been thinking about something important if it was keeping her awake tonight. But her thoughts seemed so jumbled in her head that separating them from each other was impossible.

From her position the pool house where her parents were staying with Wynter was directly across from her. She didn't need to look inside to know that Neville, her father, was sleeping on the couch. He had done so for the past two months at their home in Hogsmeade.

It wasn't that her parents fought angrily, they never fought; they hardly spoke. It had been that way long before her parents began having any real difficulties in her marriage.

Delilah had always known her parents' marriage was not the stuff of true love; not like the Potters. Rather it was a marriage made of convenience, of perfect timing and of vague attraction. So when Delilah had found out about her father's affair, she was not in the least bit sad, angry or even surprised. Her parents had always lived separate lives, orbit-like spinning around each other, pulled together by the gravity of time-passing, biological clocks ticking, societal expectations and dependent children.

Neville was not a bad man or a poor father. He had never had an indiscretion in the husband department until Hannah Abbot came back into her father's life. Delilah wasn't angry with her father for wanting more in a companion and in a marriage; not like she supposed she should have been.

Perhaps it was because she knew her father well enough to know that if Hannah Abbot had tempted her father to stray it was because he was truly in love and not because she was a passing fling, interchangeable and desirable only for her youth and thrills. That was what made the affair understandable, Hannah did not fall into the "dark mistress" category; she was not a twenty-something bimbo. She was an attractive, intelligent 42-year old woman who deeply cared for her father. This much was obvious when Delilah saw them together walking in the park near their Hogsmeade area home.

Perhaps it was because the affair did not seem to hurt her mum much. Luna was a dreamy, distracted woman, a fine mum, but she always seemed to be chasing something that didn't quite exist, including a husband that wasn't quite Neville. She was never unfaithful to her husband as far as Delilah knew, but she was so involved with other things, places, people, and interests, that to say she had committed emotional and mental adultery was apropos.

And now here they were, in a last ditch effort to see if they could keep their marriage from tearing at the seams. At least that was the intention. The fact was that their marriage, to use another sewing-themed cliché, was only just hanging by a thread at this point. It didn't make Delilah sad; not really. She only hoped that her parents would find peace and happiness when the whole thing was over.

She sometimes forgot, as all children do, that her parents had lives and dreams complicated and independent of each other, long before they became her parents. It was hard to imagine parents as having desires or needing anything beyond the shallowness of a comfortable home, a steady job and stable children, even if Delilah could never imagine herself being contented with only those three things.

Her train of thought was interrupted when she heard someone trying unsuccessfully to slip through the back gate that led to the path that went down to the beach.

It was, as fate would have it, Maxim James Potter. He was her favorite of the Potter brothers, but what he had said earlier had sort of crushed any thoughts she might have of him looking at her as anything more than a sister. Not to mention she wasn't at her most attractive at the moment. The wind had probably whipped her hair into a mess as tangled as her thoughts.

"What are you doing out here?" Maxim asked, his voice gentle as he spotted her sitting on the edge of the pool.

"Couldn't sleep", Delilah mumbled brushing a piece of pale blonde hair out of her face. Her hair was the sort of color that many women spent many a galleon and an hour on trying to achieve.

"Do you want some company?" he asked walking towards her.

"You can't really be interested, can you?" Delilah responded irritably. She got up from the edge of the pool and began walking back towards the house.

"Hey, I'm sorry about earlier. I didn't mean to imply- anything. You don't really need me to tell you how beautiful you are" Maxim said following her quickly

Delilah noticed it was not exactly the same thing as Maxim thinking she was beautiful. She paused and turned about to retort but Maxim was so close to her she had to lean back against the French doors to look up at him. She was only 5'2" whereas Maxim was closer to six feet tall. He raised an arm above her head and leaned against the door.

Standing like this no more than a couple of inches apart, she was very accutely aware of his body- of the definition in his sun-browned arms, the expanse of firm chest and the strong line of his stubbled jaw. If she were to take the tiniest step forward she would be falling right into his embrace.

Her wit was failing her and so she said giving him a firm poke in the chest, "Why are you out here?"

"Ow!" exclaimed Maxim jumping back.

The poke had the desired effect as Delilah found she could think much more clearly with him standing a couple feet away.

"If you must know, I was out sailing. I heard the wind tonight and I just couldn't resist" Maxim said.

"This wind is ridiculous though" Delilah said, her blonde hair whipping around her face and her nightshirt around her body.

Maxim stepped closer to her again with a mischievous smile, "I guess I like it rough".

Delilah's pulse picked up just a touch, but she tried to play if off by rolling her eyes at Maxim, exasperatedly.

"So are you going to tell me what was keeping you awake?" Maxim asked his voice gentler this time.

"You of course, you're all I dream about" Delilah said sarcastically.

"As flattered as I am, I know you're lying. You looked upset earlier, what's wrong?" Maxim asked.

Delilah walked back over to the pool and sat on the edge again. This time Maxim joined her.

"It's nothing" Delilah said though she couldn't keep from glancing over at the pool house as she said this.

"Oh, your parents. How are they? How are you?" Maxim asked, his voice filled with concern.

"I'm actually fine with it. They're fine apart, and Sebastian and Wynter and I are fine with it too. I just don't know why they're trying, or pretending to try, to fix their marriage".

"Maybe they just don't want you to think they gave up"

"There is nothing to try to save, though. Everyone thinks them splitting up is this great tragedy, but it will probably be better for both of them in the end. They were never like your parents. And anyway, twenty years is a long time, they gave it a good run"

"People they think, I should feel betrayed by my dad or something. I mean I'm angry that he never told my mum or my brothers and me that he was unhappy, but I don't resent him for wanting to love and be loved in a way he can't with my mum."

"Do you think your dad is in love with Hannah?"

"I know he is, and I don't think he was ever really in love with my mum, nor she with him. That should probably make their whole marriage seem even worse, but they were good to each other. They were friends and they still are I think, or they will be when this whole thing is over. Twenty years, I suppose you could call it a success" Delilah said looking away from him and staring down at her feet kicking in the pool.

Maxim tilted her face back up to his gently, "They had you. I would call that a success"

Delilah's face was inches from his own. He was so handsome with those bright green eyes and messy black hair, his face shadowed with late-night (or was it early morning) stubble. She saw his eyes flicker down to her lips and it gave her a little frisson of pleasure that he was thinking about what it would be like to kiss her too. At least all the Cosmo articles she read told her that looking at a person's lips is a signal they want to kiss you, and most importantly, not at all in a sisterly way.

Still it was probably four in the morning and her exhaustion chose that moment to kick in and she couldn't help but let the tiniest yawn escape.

"Sorry I-" Delilah began.

"No, its probably for the best" Maxim said, not quite sure what he meant by that.

Confusion flickered across Delilah's face too, but she was too tired to ask him to clarify, "It's late, or early, I guess, we should really get some sleep" Delilah said.

"Yeah" he said rising and helping Delilah get to her feet too.

They walked back into the house in silence. When they arrived in the upstairs hallway about to go their separate ways they stopped.

"Well, goodnight" Maxim said a little awkwardly, turning away from her.

"Maxim?"

"Yeah"

Delilah stepped close to him and rising on very tiptoes, placed a soft, sweet kiss on his cheek.

"Thank you" she whispered, her breath hot on his cheek. And then she was turning and walking down the hall to Charlotte's bedroom.

"_I remember that night", commented Maxim Potter, when the latest journal entry was completed._

"_Yes, it held a certain amount of significance" _

"_I wanted to kiss you so badly" _

"_And just think you'll get to spend a lifetime kissing me just because you can"_

"_I do, don't I? Doesn't mean I will, but…"_

"_Oh hush, and don't you need to go pick up your tuxedo from the tailor?"_

"_I'm going…"_


End file.
